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Article History

Accepted: 8 July 2023

First Online: 2 August 2023

Declarations

:

: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

: This study was reviewed and approved by the Health and Social Care Research Ethics Committee A (HSC REC A, REC Reference: 16/NI/0264) within the Health Research Authority of England’s National Health Service. Study details were published on the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) Portfolio of studies (IRAS study number: 209506).

: Phase 1 interview participants undertook the consenting process in person with the researcher and gave informed written consent prior to the interview commencing, as outlined in the approved study protocol.

: Researcher to explain the overall aims of the research, purpose of interview, how the interview will be conducted and assure confidentiality. Invite any questions that the participant might have. If researcher is satisfied that participant understands what their participation involves, give consent form for completion. Offer to read aloud each item of the consent form individually if they prefer. After consent is given: Make participant aware that audio-recording is about to begin, then begin recording. Phase 2 survey participants gave consent for their data to be used in the study by returning the completed questionnaire, as stated in the Participant Information Sheet: ‘By returning the completed questionnaire to the research team, you are agreeing to take part in this stage of the study and for your responses to be used in our analysis.’ For both phases of the study, the Participant Information Sheet made clear that the study was voluntary and that participants could withdraw from the study at any time, without having to give a reason.

: Written consent forms (Phase 1) and Participant Information Sheets (Phases 1 and 2) stated that anonymized study results would be presented in study outputs including peer-reviewed articles for publication.